Fukushima News Reports from Japan? Brief Explanation of Japanese News Sources and Why Some are More Sensationalist Than Others

Recently there is lots of reporting about how "if there is another massive earthquake, even a small one like a 5 or 6, the spent rod fuel pool at Fukushima could collapse and destroy the country and cause 40 million people to be evacuated from Japan." I seriously think people need to relax and get a bit more realistic. Worrying about this is worrying about something that is conjecture or speculation...

There's lots of things to worry about, folks, but the support system of the spent fuel rods pool building wasn't destroyed by a 9.0 earthquake, the sixth biggest earthquake in history, the plant and the building was damaged by a tsunami. A 9.0 earthquake is about 8000 times more powerful than a 6.0 earthquake. If the steel structure at Fukushima stood up to a 9.0 quake - and has since been reinforced - then I wonder what the chances are of a 6.0 quake destroying it? 


What are the chances of another 9.0 quake? An event that happens about once in one-thousand years? 


The walls of the building were damaged by an explosion, for sure. But the current state of having no walls around the spent fuel pools building is because the walls that were damaged by the explosion have been removed on purpose. They were removed because a new covering wall is in the process of being constructed and damaged walls are not stable.


The construction of the new walls started yesterday.


The last four paragraphs above are facts. That is what "news" is supposed to be; facts. Let me say an opinion, that, it is possible, that the world will end because of Fukushima. In fact, I'd give the odds of that happening, perhaps, a bit higher percent than the odds of life on this world getting extinguished by a massive asteroid blasting the earth to smithereens in the next year; or the sign of the Apocalypse when the Beirut river runs red with blood; or the sun suddenly exploding; or me winning the year-end lottery (and not giving a toss about any of this anyhow while I'm sipping wine on a yacht in the Carribbean). 


Folks, serious people in Japan are not following this story about Fukushima being the end of Japan or life on this planet as we know it. It's certainly not because the government is suppressing the story, either. I reckon people have their reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that the news services that are reporting this doomsday scenario are not credible news sources regardless of how many times they are repeated in the western press.

I love this headline!

I don't believe anything the press says anyway, but my reasons for not paying too much attention to this story about Fukushima, "ending life on the earth as we know it," is that there's many other things that are much more likely to kill me and I don't spend all day worrying about those either and, two, if it is the end of the earth, there's not another place I could move to that I know of. Is there?


But allow me to explain to the foreign audience the why's and what-fors as to why, in Japan's case, you need to consider the source about any news you hear... I'd like to just to put things in perspective for foreigners about Japan's news media....


In Japan, the TV networks are all affiliated with old school newspapers, so that explains editorial issues. Here are the five biggest news sources in Japan along with their political and business policy/slant. They are:


Sankei Shimbun (The most right wing of the major news sources. Pro-American, Anti-Chinese.)


Nikkei Shimbun (Pro business, pro market similar to Wall Street Journal. Affiliated with TV Tokyo)


Mainichi Shimbun (Liberal, often sensationalist)


Yomiuri Shimbun (Conservative. Most read newspaper in Japan. Populist positions. Affiliated with Nippon Television.)


Asahi Shimbun (The most left wing of the major news sources. Affiliated with TV Asahi)


Today, if we are talking about sensationalist reporting on Fukushima, then I'd like to talk about - must talk about - TV Asahi.

Asahi Newspaper

The news source that is reporting and running with this "Fukushima could be the end of the earth" scenario is TV Asahi. As stated, TV Asahi is affiliated with Asahi Shimbun but is a different company. Asahi news is Japan's oldest and second most circulated newspaper. Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) is second in circulation with about 8 million, but TV Asahi is one of the lowest rated national TV networks in Japan. If you realize that then it might make sense to you why they resort to really sensationalist reporting...


In TV Asahi's case, I suppose it's a chicken and the egg problem. Which came first? The sensationalist reporting or the bad ratings? So, now you know. There's a reason why TV Asahi's ratings are so bad. They've, for years, been guilty of sensationalist news reporting (if you can call it "news").

If it were Japan, Nancy Grace would be on TV Asahi

Another point that should make thinking people suspicious of anything Asahi news reports is that before the war (starting from the 1930s or so) Asahi news was an extremely right-wing publication and strongly supported the militarist  then prime minister of Fumimaro Konoe and was an ardent supporter of the war as well as harshly anti-captialist. After the war ended, they went 180 degrees the other way and are now the far left wing. They've been anti-business (pro-socialism and pro-statism) and anti-nuclear power since. 


If there is any news source in Japan who will be out in front first complaining about industry and these sorts of issues, it will be a leftist publication like Asahi Shimbun or TV Asahi. It is their audience.

That being said, TV Asahi's news is above and probably better than news sources like News of the World. So, if you like gossip and scandals, then they are the station for you...


If you want to watch "news" shows about the end of the world, then they have that everyday at about 9 am ~ 11:00 am as that's "Golden time" for housewives to watch TV...


People interested in serious news and economic reports do not tune to TV Asahi. They are not credible. In fact, to think that any TV news source is credible in this day and age is pure nonsense.




NOTE FROM A READER:


I have been living and working in Japan with the Navy since before the earthquake. The Navy has gone way overboard with radiation control measures and the only problem we have is that work gets stopped when we find radiation measurements that are about as high as you would find in a bunch of bananas. We have had a lot of nuclear trained officers and testing equipment on site since day one because we operate our own nuclear power plant on USS George Washington and the impact has been totally overblown. An "unprecedented" level of radiation can still be insignificantly low but just higher than normal.


- Fireman_Timmy

Worrying Too Much About the Worse-Case Scenario is a Sign of Serious Mental Illness and Paranoia

I wonder if extreme paranoia can be linked to junk and processed foods?


I've said many times that things are bad enough at Fukushima and Tohoku after the 311 disaster for those poor folks, they don't need people spreading unfounded rumors. But recently the shrill voices of terror, gloom and doom have really gotten out of control with their reporting of "worse case scenarios" as being factual occurrences signed, sealed and delivered finished deals.

Worse-case scenario: Oil spill 

I just reported on one article I read at Sh*t Hits The Fan (SHTF) website that was chocked full of foaming at the mouth reporting about secret plans to evacuate Tokyo and how there was "no way to control the radiation" at Fukushima. Please refer to Sensationalism, Scare-Mongering and the Nanny State: 

There is still way too much sensationalism and frankly speaking piss poor writing going on about Fukushima. I found one of the worst examples I've seen in a long time today. This article's title is suitable for a gossip weekly magazine on some US supermarket check out counter along with the Hillary Clinton Adopts Alien Baby story. The title lays bare to the low quality of writing held within: It's Not Over: Government Plans for the Worst - Forced Evacuation of Tokyo. The article goes on stating that the nuclear problem is out of control, cannot be controlled and the Japanese government has plans to evacuate ten million people from Tokyo.

Worse-case scenario: Flesh Eating virus on your face

Interestingly enough, one guy wrote a comment to me that showed just how foolish and insane this subject makes people. He wrote how wrong I was and insisted that I, "Come out right now and admit that you (I) work for TEPCO!" and then actually wrote, "The radioactivity levels in Tokyo have spiked way higher than those in even Fukushima!"

I asked for proof of that claim and no proof was forthcoming or will be. It can't be.

Think about the nuttiness of that bizarre claim! Where did he get such an outrageous idea? That, "The radioactivity levels in Tokyo have spiked way higher than those in even Fukushima"!? Extraordinary! How could Fukushima be such a problem that it is claimed that it is a danger so bad that the radiation is going to end life on this planet as we know it, yet (he claims that) Tokyo has higher radiation levels already than Fukushima? How did this radiation get to Tokyo? Where did it come from? There are no nuclear power plants in Tokyo. Did the radiation jump over the mountains here or did it skip over? 

Or was it transported from Fukushima like James T. Kirk would be in Star Trek? ... Anyway....

"Beam me up, Scotty!"

The point is that there are a lot of nutty people running around. 


Whatever an organization like SHTF writes can be taken with a grain of salt as they are a company that makes their living selling survival gear and foodstuffs for the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). They want people to buy their stuff. They sell fear... (And, they do a good job of it too!) 


Now, far be it from me to tell you that you shouldn't be prepared for all sorts of disasters, you definitely should. I think you need to have at least two months of food and water and as much gold and silver as you can get your hands on. I wrote about that in: Be Prepared! A Better Investment Than Gold?

Worse-case scenario: The sun won't explode in 5 billion years, 

it will only take 500,000 million years! 

So, on the point of being prepared for natural (or man-made) disasters or economic calamities up to a point, SHTF and I agree... But, unlike SHTF, I don't sell full body radioactivity armor or underground air and water filters, no guns and artillery pieces and ammo for use in the case of a nuclear holocaust.


Perhaps we will have one of those. 


I'm hoping that I can get away to New Zealand or South America before the time that happens. If not, I wonder what good is the quality of life if our entire environment is so radioactive that we have to wear protective suits all the time? Would anyone want to live that way? That's like being old and dying and kept alive by machines. That's not living. That's being alive and living in hell. 

Worse-case scenario: Alien Invasion

No matter what, if I'm lucky and smart enough, my wife and kids will be gone well before anything bad happens. Those arrangements were made way back in 2008 because I fear the economic turmoil I know that one is coming (and people think I over-react!)

But, how everyone handles a disaster and what's best for themselves and their families? That's a practical and philosophical question, perhaps, that I think everyone must have considered. If they haven't they should have. 


For now, I am of the thinking that things in Fukushima are bad enough as it is without people spreading irrational rumors. There are radioactive spent fuel pools in the United States that are ten times higher in radiation than Fukushima, Chernobyl and Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined and have no protection against natural disasters like earthquakes at all, yet you don't hear about them. You do, though, hear about "worse case scenarios" involving Fukushima, though, and "Nuclear Experts claiming that "an earthquake in the vicinity of Fukushima could spell the end of civilization as we know it." 


(Psst! Don't look now, but Japan has always had lots of earthquakes. In fact, we just had seven earthquakes in the area of Fukushima and, as far as I can see from my window, the earth and the rest of us are still here!)


Anyhow, even if there is another huge earthquake and it does cause so much damage that it ends civilization as we know it, what are you going to do about it? Huh? As the leader of the "Good Ol Boys" said to Jake in the Blues Brothers, "What are you going to do about it, huh, Stein? You're going to look pretty good eating corn on the cob with no f*cking teeth!" 

Are you going to run over to Fukushima and hold up collapsing structures like Atlas?

Worse-case scenario: Heavy manual labor and the pay is less than minimum wage

What are you going to do if we are hit by another killer asteroid that destroys life on earth as we know it? What are you going to do if nuclear war breaks out and that ends life on this earth as we know it? What are you going to do when the next ice-age hits? What are you going to do if the next bird flu really is a massive killer and wipes out you and your family? What are you going to do? What are all these Chicken Little's going to do?


Well, I have an idea, you can spend the rest of your life worrying about all sorts of things and stay hidden indoors or you can go outside and realize that danger is a part of life and always has been ("Don't leave the cave, Saber-Toothed tigers might eat you!") and live your short time on this earth to its fullest. 

Our society has a lot of mentally ill people running around. The mere fact that they wish to claim the end of the world and the end of our civilization (as if we have the power to stop earthquakes and natural disasters) due to man's folly (folly that will never end)... Is a true sign of this modern-day mental illness.


I've got my own quirks and mental problems too. We all do. But fearing the end of the world in a situation that is completely out of my control is not one of them. Ninety-nine percent of all deadly car accidents occur within 50 miles from home; Over three-hundred and fifty-three thousand people died from cancer in Japan in 2010 alone and that number is increasing annually; In 2010 cardio-vascular disease killed over 10.8 million people in Japan and the rate is going up! These are known killers. I know they are going to happen. I eat healthy and don't drink or smoke.


These people freaking out about Fukushima and the end of the world? I'll bet you half a donut that 99% of them eat junk and processed foods all the time... And they worry about the end of the world? Ha!


Do you think you or I should spend our time biting our nails and worrying about something that "might" happen in a "worse-case scenario"? I don't.

Be very worried... Indeed.

This is not to belittle a serious problem but I have a life to live and time to enjoy on this planet. I hope you feel the same way too. 


It's a wonderful weekend. Go out and enjoy it with your family and friends... Oh and try to stay away from paranoid people and junk food... They seem to hang in same circles...

Tokyo: Giant Radioactive Mutant Bed Bugs Spawned From Fukushima Disaster! Bed-Bugs Discovered the Size of Rats!

"Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats" - "Future Legend" by David Bowie 

"Giant Mutant Bed Bugs!?" Ewww! I was shocked as I read the headlines... I think one of the most absolutely disgusting things in the world are Bed Bugs. Huge ones!? That's just sickening and makes my skin crawl... 

"Tokyo: Giant Radioactive Mutant Bed Bugs Spawned From Fukushima Disaster! Bed-Bugs Discovered the Size of Rats!" Scary... And misleading... This sort of headline is fitting for Japanese 1950s Science Fiction movies ala Mothra versus Godzilla or a Gigantor cartoon. And why not? The Fukushima disaster is a real disaster and it's certainly capturing the imaginations of people all around the world including advertising agencies, survival goods suppliers, political organizations and, of course, said science fiction writers.


Some of those science fiction writers - whether for publications, mass media or retailers - are doing all they can in cashing in on Fukushima... They are cashing in on it to sell their sensationalist scribblings, video reports or just plain to peddle goods.


That's what this post is about: Selling goods using misleading headlines... What used to be called "False Advertising." One of the most dispicable things about the world of advertising is misleading headlines; the old "bait and switch." 


This post has it all! It is about misleading headlines, bait and switch and disgusting Bed Bugs. 


This morning, over my coffee, I found one advertiser that has really gone too far. There is an ad on Yahoo that, in my book, insinuates something sinister going on related to Fukushima but it is nothing of the sort. Take a lookie at this ad:

This is the ad. Now, you tell me, with all the news about Fukushima, what does this image and the text suggest to you?

Some advertisers will stoop to any level in order cash in on other peoples misery and troubles and use scare tactics to sell product... Unfortunately, most people are too brain dead from too much TV that they fail to see it for what it is.


This advertiser has really gone too far. I've said many times that things are bad enough at Fukushima for those poor folks but recently, the shrill voices of terror, gloom and doom have really gotten out of control with their reporting of "worse case scenarios" as being signed, sealed and delivered finished deals. I wrote about that in Sensationalism, Scare-Mongering and the Nanny State.


The sensationalism really has dropped to tabloid level. Just like something you'd see at the check out like at your local super market, this madness has stooped to new lows. Here's a new bait and switch that gets folks in Tokyo and the world over who are panicking about Fukushima to click their banner because it looks like it portends to news about radiation...


On the top page of Yahoo Finance, the bait and switch ad appears on the right. It says, "New Plague in Tokyo. If you live in Tokyo, you'd better read this..."

In fact, these guys are really going for it, I see where their ad is a revoling ad along with a credit card company and also appears with a different image as this, "New Bug in Tokyo. If you live in Tokyo, you'd better read this..." 

The ads are by a probable fly-by-night company named Guru Media. This poor excuse for an advertising agency claims:


Guru Media International was founded by a team of marketing and advertising professional who understand that today’s world requires a customized suite of solutions to help companies succeed. (sic)


Bwa! Ha! Ha! Terrible! "...founded by a team of marketing and advertising professional"!? Really? Guys, there's supposed to be an "s" at the end of professional, as in "professionals."


Maybe professionals at marketing and advertising but not professionals at spelling, copy-writing or editing... And these clowns are getting contracts from someone? 


Wow! A lead in suggesting Fukushima radiation problems in Tokyo that take me to an ad for Bed Bug remedies in Minnesota? There really must be a sucker born every minute! (Pun intended!)


Anyway, back to the misleading banner ad. I live in Tokyo and when I saw it this morning, I clicked it. I clicked it because I thought, "What kind of nonsense is this now? Another company selling fear and survival gear?" But no! It's worse than that! I clicked the link and found... A full page ad selling products to fight Bed Bug infestations in the United States!


This ad has zero to do with Japan! It is an ad for products to fight the Bed Bug infestation that is spreading across the United States today. There's not one single mention of anything that has to do with Japan excepting the byline at the start that claims this "news" is from Tokyo (probably an algorythm that helps the advertisers decide where the results are best). When you click the banner, it takes you to this paid advertisement. Here's the ad at the top of the page:

It reads: 

Tokyo: Remember when "sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite" was just a cute bedtime expression that didn't mean anything? Well, those days are over. After 6 decades of living largely bed bug-free, the US is facing a national infestation.

In fact, the incidence of bed bug infestation has risen 500% in the last few years alone, and they're not just in dirty hotels - they're at the 5-star ones as well and swarming the public places you visit every day. Bed bugs are shutting down businesses and being found at your local movie theaters and clothing stores as they inch closer and closer to your home..

Nothing to dow with Japan at all... Now, that's some mighty fine bait and switch there! I'll bet they catch some pretty good sized fish with that too! Maybe this works for people nowadays. Maybe people are so drugged out or have such a problem with ADD or short attention spans that they've become like pigeons. You know, 1.5 seconds later they can't remember what they were doing.


What's the point of my rant? Well, I think it's pretty obvious that sensationalism sells. It sells newspapers and advertisers for TV and radio... Heck, selling by using fear and sensationalism isn't even hidden anymore. It is blatant and they have no reservations about using dishonest methods to make a buck.


You'd have hoped that, after all the lies of the mass media concerning Saddam Hussein, SARS, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Global Warming, ad nauseum, that people advertising on the internet would be a bit more sophisticated along with the audience...


I guess I hope for too much. Alas....

-----

Now, I often complain in this blog and sometimes people take me to task for only complaining and not offering solutions. I stand guilty as charged! But not today! Today, I am going to put my money where my mouth is. Today I am going to show you just how a company can be honest and still do a great business. We don't need misleading sensationalism to sell a product where a need actually exists... Where a need does not exist, sensationalism is a good way to take advantage of suckers.


So, without further ado, may I show you folks a good way on how to sell product against Bed Bugs? First off, find a person with a need (Read: someone with Bed Bugs). Secondly, have them watch the following video. This is a 6 minute long Emmy Award winning documentary called,

WHEN BED BUGS ATTACK! 

Ewwwww!!!!! This gives me the chills every time I see it. Is that creepy, or what? Can there be anything more horrible than something that bites you will you're sleeping? The vampire Bed Bugs!... That there's an infestation of these creepies all over America just gives me one more good reason why I'm staying here in Japan all safe and snug as a bug in a rug in Tokyo...


Fukushima radiation? Compared to these bed bugs, I'll stay here and take my chances.

US Mass Media Guilty of Lying About Trayvon Martin Shooting - Deliberate Attempt to Incite Racial Tensions or Race Riots?

UPDATE AT BOTTOM!


Today's blog post is about a very recent incident and a set of timely articles about one of the most disgraceful examples of false reporting of the news I've ever heard in my life, the Trayvon Martin shooting. 


Now, the mass media has been guilty of some very bad and false reporting in the past but they've generally had the excuse of being fed the wrong information by the government or by other sources (if that is an excuse for not getting off their a*ses and doing their jobs by doing some actual research and fact checking!) This time they have no excuse. This time the mass media intentionally and deliberately falsified the news. Today's blog post should make your blood boil with how dishonest and irresponsible our mass media has become. 

It's a recurring theme of my blog and writings. I've written many times about how you can't believe anything that you see or hear on the mass media. In: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update & Strong Criticism of Western Media Sensationalism I wrote:

Remember my Golden Rule about TV: "90% of everything you see on TV is bullshit; the other 10% are commercials."

Actually, it astounds me that people do accept what what the media says as gospel truth. Don't forget that this is the very same media that told us 3 years ago that Swine Flu was going to kill more than 50 million people worldwide. This was the same media that told us that the USA had to invade Iraq because of Saddam's nooklar weapons. This was the same media that told us that SARS also was a killer virus that was going to wipe out entire populations. This was the same media that told us that Bird Flu was going to do the same.

As of today, worldwide deaths from Swine Flu: 82. No nuclear weapons for Saddam (if he had any, do you really think we would have invaded Iraq?). Worldwide deaths from SARS: 100. Worldwide deaths from Bird Flu: 80. Don't even get me started on Man Made Global Warming!

Of course unless you've been asleep, or in a coma, for these last 20 years you'd know that the mainstream mass media is dying yet they'll do anything to keep their ratings up and keep the sponsorship monies coming in. At least with SARS the mass media had the excuse to claim ignorance! 


And now, back to the Trayvon Martin shooting, but before I go on, let me say that if the shooter, George Zimmerman, is found guilty of murder then he deserves the heaviest penalty under Florida law. But, as is the case in a supposed civil society that is guided by laws and not the rule of vigilante as, ostensibly the USA is, he is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law...


How, until now, the news media has handled this incident is an absolute disgrace. I know, from working with the mass media, that far too many people who work in these places have no qualms about lying, and I can understand (sort of) them being ignorant about things like SARS and "deadly flu bugs" but this case today surprises even me It should infuriate any thinking person; the American news media have been caught red-handed lying and making up false information and editing the tapes of the police 911 call concerning the shooting of the black youth Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. The very taped phone conversations that supposedly paint the shooter as a racist NEVER HAPPENED!

"Never let a good crisis go to waste" - Rahm Emmanuel Obama's former Chief of Staff

It seems that they are intentionally stoking racial flames. For what purpose is anyone's guess!... Or is it?... Stay tuned as I did find one theory and will share it with you in a moment.... But first about the false information...


As some of you may know, this killing has been painted as a racially motivated killing. The biggest piece of evidence that this was a racially motivated killing is a recording of the phone call to police emergency 911 whereby the shooter, George Zimmerman, is supposedly quoted as saying, "This guys looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."


Well, now we find out that this conversation never occurred! Karl Denninger over at the Market Ticker has the scoop in: NBC is the Skittle Network - Are you *****ed off yet? You will be:

NBC News is being excoriated in some circles – with competitor Fox News Channel leading the charge – for selectively editing audio of the 911 call placed by George Zimmerman just before he killed Trayvon Martin.

Yep.   They got caught too. 

In the NBC segment, Zimmerman says: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”

The full version, though, unfolds like this:

Zimmerman: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.”

911 operator: “Okay. And this guy, is he white black or Hispanic?”

Zimmerman: “He looks black.”

WTF?! A television network actually editing and altering a police recording to further a hidden agenda!? Who decided on this? That person and the program director and producer should have been fired immediately or even before this ever aired. Nazi Germany's Joseph Goebbels would have been proud of this fakery.

Goebbels

But, really, why am I surprised? I shouldn't be. The news (in bed with the government) lies about everything. They lied about World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam War, SARS, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Iraq, Libya, Kony 2012, Iran, Ron Paul, GMO, Afghanistan, etc., etc. I could go on for as many years as there are days of the former American republic....


But to edit recorded messages to push an agenda to spark racially motivated hate in the USA now and at this time? There are some very sick and evil people in charge of our government and the mass media. 


And on top of this, to throw fuel on the fire, idiots like Spike Lee actually used Twitter to Tweet out the home address of the parents of the shooter (Actually he is so stupid that he tweeted out the address of the wrong people the first time!) What do the parents of the shooter have to do with this event? Nothing! This after the Black Panthers put a $10,000 reward on George Zimmerman's head!


Folks, these sorts of actions are crimes that used to be called "inciting violence" and both Spike Lee and the Black Panthers who made these calls need to be made to pay for this. They should be arrested and put in jail awaiting trial. I don't care if they are black, white, hispanic, purple or what.


Denninger goes on with some very astute observations that make me proud of someone who takes everything they see/hear on the mass media with a healthy dose of skepticism (I wish the average person did too). He continues with a very interesting question that you can try to answer for yourself:

Trayvon Martin was allegedly out at night, on foot and in a rainstorm getting iced tea and skittles. Ok, here's the address where the altercation took place from the police report:

2381 Retreat View Cir
Sanford, FL 32771

Now go to Google Maps and type in that address. (Here: http://bit.ly/H5EPC5)

Next, find me a convenience store -- you know, a place to buy skittles and an iced tea. Just type in "convenience store" in the "Search Nearby" box.

Where's the closest one and how far is it on foot?

In a rainstorm, for a bag of skittles and can of iced tea, both ways?  Possible?  Sure.  Plausible?  That story ought to be able to be checked, and rather easily -- all convenience stores these days have video recorders.

So has anyone checked to see if indeed the deceased hiked the anywhere from 2-4 miles to and from one of the half-dozen convenience stores in the general area (none closer than about a mile on foot, incidentally, and all somewhat of a pain in the ass to get to due to what appears to be a limited access highway -- 417 -- between the location and the stores which would force you to walk quite a bit further than you could go "as the crow flies".)

These are pretty basic questions.  In fact the closest convenience store is a Murphy USA; to reach the others north of the location (the ones south are a LOT further) you'd have to walk past it, so it's highly likely that's the store -- if the story of going out for Skittles and iced tea holds up.

That is an excellent question and it deserves much attention. 

I like them too but I'd never walk 2 ~ 4 miles in the rain to buy a pack... Would you?

But this post is not to perform detective work. This particular post is, once again, a full frontal assault on the mainstream mass media, especially TV, and once again proof of what I've always said, "You can't believe anything you see/hear on TV."


The mass media in the USA (and Japan) today are propaganda channels for the government. This incident should prove as just one more piece of evidence towards that fact.


"But why would the mass media fake information like this? For what purpose?" You ask? I can tell you two off hand: They need a crisis to keep up ratings. Riots and violent demonstrations make great TV. Great TV makes for high ratings. High ratings makes for profitability. If you don't think the TV news won't fudge the reports for a more sensationalist effect in order to make more money, then I have a TV station on top of a bridge to sell you. 


And two, it's all a part of the Military-Industrial-Media complex. 


What does the Military-Industrial-Media complex have to do with his? Consider this next article. On Lew Rockwell just today this appeared featuring a guy who predicted this sort of racially inflamed incident would be used by the Obama administration in 2012 in order to get re-elected... The final sentence gives you the motivation for the theory, "Does anyone expect the President to successfully run on the economy, health care, tax cuts, or budget reductions?"


From Lew Rockwell: Powder Keg: Rap Song Charges 'White Man' With Murder: 'Strap on your AK's Let's Start a Riot':

Flashback to August 16, 2011, when we published a White House Insider report detailing the possibility that the Obama administration would incite race riots in the build up to the 2012 Presidential election:

Via The Ulsterman Report:

Insider: Yes. It’s in place and underway – being developed. Further developed. It’s gonna – gonna tie it in with the unions somehow. I don’t know exaclty how – just that’s included in it. It will be an all out campaign on race. The goal is to completely mobilize the Black vote while shaming an even greater number of white voters into not opposing a second Obama term. They are gonna get out the guilt vote man. The guilt vote!

Ulsterman: Obama…Democrats in general, already get the Black vote – most of it.

Insider: They want all of it. Every last one. Then bring in the Hispanic vote, tie them up in this race issue as well. Republicans want to toss you out. Obama wants to bring you in. They hate the color of Obama’s skin just like they hate the color of yours. Hey White America, you aren’t part of that group who hates non-whites are you? If not, you better get out and vote for Barack Obama.

Ulsterman: That sounds overly simplistic and insulting to voters. You really think something like that would actually work?

Insider: Hell yes-yes… it can work. It’s not gonna come so easy as it did in 2008, but that’s why they plan to ramp it up – the race issue.

In that report we noted the distinct possibility that the Obama Team would Incite Race Riots and attempt to Use White Guilt in 2012 Election:

A politician, especially at the highest levels, will stop at nothing to maintain their power. President Obama is no different, and considering that mouthpieces in his administration have repeatedly referred to unsupportive segments of the electorate as terrorists and racists, is it any wonder they are considering this strategy?

Does anyone expect the President to successfully run on the economy, health care, tax cuts, or budget reductions? 


I don't have any snappy cute remarks to make about this godd*mned disgrace. The only thing I can say is that if you believe what you see on TV and take that as gospel truth, then please.... Go back to your sleep or back to your coma...


They've got a special TV program on especially for the likes of you.


In my opinion, and as someone who has worked in the mass media for decades, I don't believe there is any place in journalism for these sorts of examples of malicious corporate propaganda.


UPDATE: The New York Times reports: "NBC News has fired a producer who was involved in the production of a misleading segment about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida." I wrote this blog post on March 31, it's now April 8. What the hell took NBC so long to fire that guy? And, if that producer is black, then I believe that the shooter, Zimmerman, could have a case against NBC news that his civil rights have been violated. If so, I hope he sues NBC for tens of millions of dollars.... And wins!